The Most Important Research Tool is the Power of Listening

We were up bright and early ready to tackle today’s interviews.  We met with local tour guides, hotel staff from Sunny Paradise Resort, shopkeepers, village elders and later had an evening meeting with a United Nations World Tourism Organization employee who was traveling through Myanmar surveying the area for tourism.  They were all ages, from all different backgrounds, and from all parts of Myanmar.  I had started to see a pattern develop already but I told myself not to get my hopes up and that it was only one day.  We had over ten long in-depth interviews and were exhausted by the end of the day.

Day #3 followed a similar pattern of long interviews with many different people – all fascinating.  We interviewed handicraft workers, restaurant owners, grocery store vendors, housewives, elders and the head of the village.  Although I cannot verify this for certain, I really felt that each person was genuine, honest, and open to sharing their story with us.

Going to School!  Meeting with a middle school teacher in Ngwe Saung

Being in a classroom surrounded with academics, certainly gives you a feeling of entitlement, power, and poise when it comes to researching.  You use “important” terms such as ‘conducting field research’ and ‘ethnographic interviews’ and it all sounds super exciting and important.  Getting to “THE FIELD” however – really made me realize how unimportant the researcher really is.  Hosana and I sat down with families, individual entrepreneurs, mothers, salesmen, and hopeful high school graduates and I listened.  Sure – you ask a few probing questions.  But your job out there is to LISTEN…and take notes as frantically as possible!  Leaving that classroom under of the label of ‘Researcher’ feels so important, yet when you get to your site, you realize that you have little to do with the success of the research – and the story, work and data lies in the people and their stories.

“I thought all Americans were black…” Exchanging Cultures

Interview with a local family in Ngwe Saung village

As is with any exchange in culture, there are sometimes moments when you are perplexed, stunned or even dumbfounded.  As we interviewed one woman earlier today, she asked Hosana where I was from.  When he answered, she told him something and he started laughing – hard.  What did she say?!  I wanted to know…

Hosana explained that she was confused because she thought all Americans were black, and said I couldn’t be an American because I wasn’t black.

We all laughed and awkwardly smiled after settling down and starting the interview.  But I couldn’t help think how funny each of our stereotypes and preconceived notions are and just how far off we can be sometimes.  There is no better way to start a research project, than to be reminded that just because one person says one thing or acts one way or looks one way – it does not represent the group.  And that was the best motivation to ensure we spoke with as many people as possible – to show the true colors in the research.

Our trusted 'Toto:' We sure aren't in Kansas anymore!

I learned a great deal about culture, lifestyle and the morals and values of the local people on this trip.  And there were many comparisons – most revolving relationships between boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife.  Hosana explained that in Myanmar (although this is slowly changing between generations), most people date one person in their life – that they later marry and together raise a family.  Most people have one sex partner, and sex before marriage is not accepted.  Women are responsible for raising children and attending to the house, while men are the breadwinners and work.  Marriage then, is seen more as a business partnership, where two people can balance the responsibilities of life and coexist peacefully.  It sure was a different understanding of relationship than the one I had been exposed to in the United States!

Breakfast :)

 But as with any culture clash – there is an exchange, and Hosana and I shared a few of our own.  One in particular that I found so funny was as I was getting ready for bed, Hosana asked what I was doing.  I was confused by his question – seeing as this was my nightly habit of getting ready for bed since I was about 10.  He said, what were you doing with that string?  I was still confused and looked in my bag – string, string…Oh – you mean floss?!  “Yeah – what is that?”  I could explain floss was the string you used to get out food stuck between your teeth, but I couldn’t really explain why it was so important – I just kept reiterating that it was important and the dentist says you can get cavities if you don’t floss.  Sitting down and teaching Hosana how to floss was hysterical for me – mainly because I had flossed since I was a little girl and had always always been told that you had to floss.  And here I was trying to explain how to floss to someone, and I couldn’t really explain WHY flossing was so important – even though I had been doing it for fifteen years!

The Field

Ngwe Saung Beach, Silver View Resort, Myanmar

Here it is.  What I have waited and slaved over for months in the library.  What I was so nervous and excited for all at the same time.  “The Field.”  We arrived around 1:00pm in pouring rain to Ngwe Saung.  At that moment, I was incredibly thankful my next-door neighbor Judy had taught me how to pack outfits into ziplock bags – I had assumed this was mainly for saving space and making everything air tight in a duffle bag, but what I quickly learned is that it can keep everything waterproof too!  We huddled in the station for a few moments as people came up to us and tried to offer us hotel rooms – and then all of a sudden I heard, “Ms. Ashley?”  I turned around surprised to see a gentleman waiting for us with a golf cart to take our things back to his hotel.  I had met the operations manager of the hotel at the meeting in Ngwe Saung before, and he had suggested we stay at his hotel.  I didn’t think I could afford it, but Hosana and I were thrilled to get out of the rain and have someone help us around.   We arrived to the Silver View Resort, looked around, negotiated a price, and settled in.  

 

 It certainly wasn’t a very pleasant day – it was raining everywhere and everything was soaked.  But the rain cleared around 4pm, and Hosana and I took a walk on the beach, which was beautiful.  I almost forgot how much I loved the beach until I got to sink my toes in that perfectly soft sand.  We ate dinner on the porch of our room and then without a second to digest – went straight to work interviewing the Silver View hotel staff…late into the night.  We interviewed five people – past 11pm that first night, and by the end I was beyond exhausted.  But these five individuals gave me a lot to think about and I looked forward to what was in store for tomorrow.

Preparations

I spent the first few days in Yangon – trying to collect as many contacts and information possible before departing for ‘The Field’ – Ngwe Saung, located six hours west of Yangon.

Hosana and I with the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association in Yangon

I met Hosana for the first time – who was nice (crazy?) enough to agree to accompany me the entire time in Ngwe Saung and assist with the research.  In Yangon, we went over the survey I had prepared with approval from my professors, and helped translate it into Burmese, clarifying the portions that didn’t make sense with translation.  

Hosana and I also went to several meetings with travel agencies and programs to better understand the travel and tourism business in Myanmar, where it was headed, what the challenges were, and what some of the successes had been.  The most interesting of these meetings however, was when we had the opportunity to meet the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association – which was a room filled of over twenty people, who owned the 17 resorts in Ngwe Saung.  While I don’t want to give too much away from the research, it was an incredible meeting that shed light on some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and how business for these hotel owners was doing in Ngwe Saung.

Hosana and I left the room a little skeptical however, wondering if the local people would have the same positive impact that these hotel owners had highlighted.  Leaving that meeting, I was itching to get to Ngwe Saung and see it for myself!

Flying in to Yangon

Flying into Yangon

 As we flew into Yangon, my nose was pressed against the glass of the airplane just as it had been six months ago.  I had to hold my breath so I wouldn’t fog over the images that I was desperate to catch a glimpse of – Myanmar.  I tried to recognize something, anything, from my last visit – but instead I just saw rice patties, lots and lots of rice patties.  I was excited, nervous, and anxious to get started and even more excited.  

Driving out of the airport, I tried to catch a glimpse of the Myanmar I had fallen in love with six months ago…but I could barely recognize anything!  It looked similar of course, but I couldn’t recognize the cars – there were so many and such newer models!  Our driver explained to us that the taxes to buy cars in Myanmar had decreased and permit laws had recently changed, and now more people could afford to buy cars.  I was impressed to see such new models in comparison to the cars I had seen six months before that were from a time period that I hadn’t even been born in yet!  Construction was everywhere and the traffic was nasty – there is certainly no denying that Myanmar is changing and climbing – one building and new model car at a time.

Carolina and I were lucky enough to travel together for the first leg in Yangon – and we met a Rotarian who was nice enough to let us stay with him while we scraped on our student budget and ran around the city all week for meetings.  We had mishi for dinner – which is traditional noodles with soup and chicken, and prepared for the following morning.  

Carolina and I in downtown Yangon Theingyi Zei Market

As we settled to bed for the night, I couldn’t help but be extremely excited for this adventure.  I was going to be on my own for three weeks in some foreign country, wandering around asking people questions, and hoping to get some sort of congruence to formulate an answer to my thesis.  It sounds rather tricky to me!  

I was in a state of excitement mixed with danger and the unknown.  It was the same feeling I had as I walked around town for the next three weeks in my tome (longyi) – that feeling of knowing you tied your tome incorrectly and at any second it could come undone, completely exposing everything, but yet you keep on walking – one careful step at a time.

ROADBLOCK and Panic Attack

Handling rejection is something that no one is really great at, and I certainly am no exception.  But handling a VISA rejection to the country where you are scheduled to conduct research for your thesis one business day before you depart…is absolutely brutal.

Now, I am sure most of you are thinking “but this doesn’t sound like Ashley, it is SO last minute!”  No – it is not like me, and it isn’t.  I have been working with the Embassy for over two months now to obtain a precious research visa to Myanmar.  Many people told me I was crazy to try, because they never issue research visas.  However, the problem is that traveling under a tourist visa, you are not permitted to speak to the locals.  It was going to be physically impossible for me NOT to do this.  Seeing as how several alums from our program had been arrested and detained for this very issue while conducting field research in Myanmar, I decided I would avoid jail time and try my luck using ‘legal’ means.

The ugly and uninviting Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok

The process, which began over two months ago with my initial application, has been less than pleasant to say the least.  I am unsure why the country is so hesitant, but I have now submitted an application over four times with six letters of support and countless influential people helping me along the way.  I am not sure why it has been so difficult, but one younger, perhaps inexperienced Embassy staff member indicated that it was because I was an “American with a Political Science background coming from a University with ties to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD.  We think you might go try to meet The Lady.”  In the beginning when he mentioned this about a month ago, I was honored that the Embassy thought I was important enough to meet The Lady, and daydreamed about an opportunity such as this!  But today – after over a month of writing letters guaranteeing that I would not engage in political activity or start a democratic opposition I realize it has been nothing but a pain!  She isn’t even in the country while I am there!

I walked to the Embassy Friday, June 22^nd, holding my passport, my hands violently shaking.  This was it.  They always say there are those moments where you can’t turn back, and you can’t change things – and this was it.  Sure, I have had shaky hands before, and this wasn’t my first big performance/competition.  But this was the culmination of nine months of hard work, long hours in the library, blood, sweat and tears.  And today was the last day the Embassy was open before my pre-paid, scheduled flight to Myanmar left on Sunday.  I had hired a translator for three weeks who had taken time off work, I had scheduled meetings with important officials and NGOs, and I couldn’t change them.  Worse-off, was that given my two week vacation, my field research six week “gap” quickly became a four-week mandatory.  I couldn’t postpone, I couldn’t delay, and I couldn’t change.  I couldn’t go back.

My good friend and wonderful classmate Nin and I got up early on Friday, now known as V-Day (Visa Day).  We decided perhaps it would be best if I personally didn’t go into the Embassy, and so she went in to speak with authorities from the Embassy with my precious passport while I paced the street nervous around the corner.  She came out several LONG heart-racing minutes later and said, “Ash, you have to come back at 4pm.”  Ok.  So it’s not a NO, but 4pm – wow, they REALLY keep you hanging until the last possible second.  The office closes at 4:30pm.  So there was no Hail Mary pass available after this…it really was down to the wire.

The precious research visa!

 To end the long and dreadful suspense…I got my visa.  It was the longest Friday of my life, and I never want to relive that again.  I am incredibly thankful to all of my friends and supporters who helped make this possible, without which I never would see this holographic visa stamp in my passport at this very moment.

Now that those dreadful days are over, I’m off to scramble to pack and prepare for the field!  I leave in less than 24 hours and have A LOT to do, but couldn’t be MORE EXCITED :)

Ring Ring! Hello, Ashley, This is the Real World Calling. It’s time to come back…

White Water River Rafting on the American River - Happy Father's Day!

After a whirlwind two weeks which included a welcome home party for my Mom from the Philippines, packing up an entire dorm room to move home, visiting Rotary family and friends, and ended with rafting down the American River for Father’s Day, I found myself back on a plane wondering how in the hell two weeks went by so fast.  I was excited to go back to Bangkok because I missed my friends, my apartment and my cheap $3 fish, papaya salad and noodle dinners, but I dreaded what was to come.  

Reality and the real world were two difficulties I knew I had to face – and I knew this time, they would both come as slaps in the face.  To me, there was nothing more important in the world than being home, and I actively made this decision without a hesitation, well-knowing that taking two weeks off a precious one-year Master’s was near-impossible.  I told myself that this was my vacation and I was entitled to have a little fun, and can return to the mayhem soon enough.  But I didn’t think that my “vacation” would be so BUSY and jam-packed - I wound up coming home tired from my two weeks off!

Is there a HOLD button?!

The minute I got home, I hit the ground running.  I had four days to prepare myself before I boarded a plane for Myanmar to begin my field research for my thesis, and I knew I was already behind with most of my classmates having entered the field over two weeks ago.  I was ready and worked through my surveys, interview questionnaires, and bookings to ensure that I had meetings set up with the right people, agencies and organizations, and that I knew what questions I was going to ask each one.  I have secured a head translator who has been wonderful in helping me with my research, and who will accompany me the majority of my time in Myanmar.  He will also help me hire other members of our research team, who will help us go out and survey the local villagers...